All posts by Jason Schott

The New York Islanders had a successful inaugural season in Brooklyn, as they won a playoff series for the first time in 23 years.

The home opener of their second season at Barclays Center is set for Sunday, Oct. 16 against the Anaheim Ducks, followed by six of nine games in October at home. There will be 18 weekend home games throughout the season, with four Friday games, five Saturday games and nine Sunday games at Barclays Center.

New York Red Bulls forward Bradley Wright-Phillips was voted Major League Soccer Player of the Week by the North American Soccer Reporters (NASR) for the 23rd week of the 2016 MLS season.

With a brace in Saturday’s 3-1 win over the Montreal Impact, Wright-Phillips became the Red Bulls’ all-time regular season leading goal scorer with 59 goals, surpassing club legend Juan Pablo Angel’s record of 58.

Wright-Phillips now has 14 tallies this season, good for second in the Golden Boot race, and four assists. The prolific striker has helped the Red Bulls climb to third place in the Eastern Conference standings (36 points, 10-9-6 record) while claiming a seven-game unbeaten streak in MLS play. The Red Bulls are undefeated this year when Wright-Phillips records a goal or assist, going 7-0-4.

The new-look Brooklyn Nets will open the 2016-17 season on Wednesday, October 26, in Boston against the Celtics.

The Nets home opener will be two days later on Friday, October 28, versus the Indiana Pacers at Barclays Center. This will also mark the return of Thaddeus Young, who was traded to Indiana in the offseason.

After a trip to Milwaukee to play Jason Kidd and the Bucks on October 29, the Nets have a four-game homestand, starting Monday, October 31, versus Chicago, followed by November 2 against Detroit, November 4 vs. Charlotte, and concluding Tuesday, November 8, against Minnesota.

The Nets will make their first visit across town to play the Knicks on November 9 at The Garden. This will be Jeremy Lin’s first visit as a member of the Nets to face his old team, where he became famous amidst the Linsanity phenomenon.

St. John’s will continue their historic rivalry with Syracuse this season, as they will meet on December 21 at the Carrier Dome.

This will be the 91st meeting in a storied rivalry that dates back more than 100-years.

When Syracuse left the Big East in 2013, there was concern as to what would happen with this historic rivalry. It wasn’t long before the schools entered into a home-and-home series, where they would meet once each season.

David Villa scored twice in the final 10 minutes, but it was not enough to get New York City Football Club a win against the Columbus Crew SC, and they settled for a wild 3-3 draw at MAPFRE Stadium Saturday night.

Frank Lampard got the scoring started in the 41st minute with his ninth goal in the last 10 games. Columbus goalkeeper Steve Clark parried Andrea Pirlo’s 26-yard free kick off the post and Lampard pounced, tapping in from the edge of the six-yard box to give NYCFC the lead at the break.

Lampard had another chance three minutes earlier after Pirlo cut inside and outside of his defender to chip a ball into the box, but Clark pushed Lampard’s header over the bar for an NYCFC corner kick.

Danny Peary’s new book, Jackie Robinson In Quotes: The Remarkable Life of Baseball’s Most Significant Player (Page Street Publishing), is perhaps the most engrossing piece of work on the pioneering Brooklyn Dodger.

This commemorated when Robinson made his debut with the Montreal Royals, the Dodgers’ International League team.

Jackie Robinson in Quotes is written differently than most books, as the story of his life is told in quotes from Robinson and others. The quotes also illuminate fun facts, like that Duke Snider debuted the same day as Robinson, so read carefully.

“I played hard, and always to win,” which Robinson said in Baseball Has Done It in 1964, is just one of his many quotes.

The book starts with his formative years, then his time in college as a multi-sport athlete, his experiences in World War II, joining the Dodgers and what he faced, and his years as a social activist.

Steve Schirippa, who rose to fame on The Sopranos, is currently starring on Blue Bloods. He can also be seen in his courtside seat at Madison Square Garden watching his beloved Knicks.

I caught up with Schirippa recently, and touched on that, plus his tomato sauce, Uncle Steve’s.

How did you get involved in Blue Bloods?
“I got a call, they sent me a script. I thought the writing was great. I never really watched the show, to be honest, I was aware of it, but never really watched it. They offered me this role, I was happy to do it, they offered me another one, another one, another one, and I’m coming back this year. We return to work next week and I should do double the amount of episodes, last season I did eight, I plan on doing 16 of the 22. It’s a great show., very popular, great acting, the writing is fantastic, and that’s why it’s been winning Friday nights six consecutive years. 13 million people are watching.”

The closest character you work with is Bridget Moynahan’s Erin Reagan. What’s she like?

“she’s great. From day one, we got along great, from the first scene we did together, I think she’s great. A really, really good actress, and I’ve worked with a bunch of them, and she’s as good as any of them. I really enjoy going to work, and working with her, we’re shooting on the streets of New York, in Brooklyn, and it’s been fantastic.I look forward to this season.

What about the rest of the cast?

I worked with Donnie Wahlberg once, I’ve met the other ones. I haven’t even met everybody yet because don’t forget, there’s different storylines. Everybody thinks, you’re on a show, you’re all best of friends, like Tom Selleck, I met twice. He was great, but I haven’t worked with him.

Wahlberg was great, I love what he does on the show. Some of the guys, the crew, are from The Sopranos, so I knew some of them. The directors have been great. I couldn’t be happier, happy to be a part of it.

“I would like to welcome you guys and your families to the Nets’ family, Marks, the Nets General Manager, said. “The process that went through here as Kenny (Atkinson) and I embarked on this journey a couple of months ago, you’ve heard us say it’s about high character, high quality guys who are competitive, and that’s what you see in front of you. That’s what we went out and tried to find and we did that. We’re excited to have this new group, this new era of Nets basketball.

“Obviously, Kenny and his staff played a huge part in this. With young players, its more than what happens on the court, it’s what happens off the court as well, behind the scenes. It’s all the little things, the nuances that perhaps the rest of us don’t see all the time, and that’s where Kenny, and his staff, is so good.